Author 



Title 



* 




GPO 


16—7404 














al w '* **• ' /.. . >-• . * v * /v •-> . T •fc 'V * . • T? * ’if • - 4 - sfe** i • • ■ ■ » • *> * 1 • t , -t.'.fc/ .. 

•. .. «.' r ''* • * ' /• ’.?. >.* . • r ■• ..K . Li . -. ;* •. v - i . ; * * ** W«-v a ' •'. . jv - t . o' • • \ s '^JE r /?*» r. ' V V 

• ■■/.-'■■ . V •■ :• •••: : .H■...-■• ..-. vVv/ \ •-• -V-'' ' •” f- f;' * : 5* :v:y« • • v! 

, 

'<* ~’* 4 , 4 s ' %!> / .* ^ t /{' •>. v # • * :.vW . vYv- *•/' ’*• ^JL*' V"< V.i^V •*' f 

. ^-iv -.-T-vV': ' -,.*%v’H. v?. -V ^ 

5l *v%. ■ ^ J 'A -*■•» .’ ' ■ " * ‘ ; ;?*» »\ **''■' ‘ •*•■'•.' £*, * -S -■' ; ; ^ '* ■» . tP ^-J ■ ■%• _' V .4 S' 

v ‘ ' rj»V ->• ‘. u ■ t-> "• 4 •;•£ j 

” •-. :' -v^>> • »• / , • - -• ‘ VV- • - • •• ' 

?/i:v a' r-, v'SV‘; v 5 vlk^ ; ;; ■: : *' . ••V"' ! ^‘ ' 

a*:,v-v < f^ : 'i 4 '> 

^ •» *. . .' . • .V i ^ - «• '. ' » » . /* .. . • 1 * *'•> “ - . ’.•••, 4 J ' ’- i > • v ' *• ’ . • ». . 1 *. \ .V' v . « . 

2*4. • •.; •■■'. Vr\«v*"-> .* .- 'Vi. ■* '. ^ .v \V\ •*• xjSv* 1 ;• ". 

. 

. 

•,< ' .^-^t "■ <&>*». ■ ■■:' 'S : •■ --^ •'■■*;. ^ v ^'V-'-'"-' s ' / - >rT •/ '■•• - 

Vf.-. a \ .-;i - *.' '. •*> • >. V: v-v -: 4 - ■* a ‘ ■ ' '•• .- v •> .* . > r^/. • • ’-v .^v 1 - 

- 

•a «v c.» + r V, - •%• • v > % •** # f ^ F > >»' /%'fi £• »v- ^ ^ ^ •, -/ r i. . r^ v . £ **•<?*'> 

, . -, v ; ; v •-> ■'•■ , *,}':<! .:■ ' ■'. v ••5-,^'. •••:• .'/ %£ : *’ - k \ '. /; ' v\ •■•- .. •' -.•iW.SftJffi .; •, v 

• r> i>- . * 'J-- y.^Y' v ;>.y ; > t .i • ;i 4 4 ' 'ir' 5 ". v> 


'■'M. 


* ^. .< Ly .'■:>■ * -•■• r/ • s /. • S "* .* v* .. •*■'•-: - *, ’ ' 

■ 

■ 

”' -- -> . . — . , • V I < •<! . • k . ■ . ** * * I < 


; ' • ■* • A. vVrV 




■. wfyw •# 


i-$ ’"«* •■' ■; y ^>- 7i 1 

<,S'. y' 

. c. • •: -V k). 'J .♦*ir.^ v* At mt " '* : * '-•;•*:* . .*. • •-! 


#:, i ••* i/,-! • .'^ iiH . • • .- *l r *_ *vV*. * ■*.•'•' • Y»Y v*'. i' / • »*- ■ o 'Vk 

■• 1 ' . v ' -w . . ■ w • ' * a/- - • 7 *•• f « W. . ii : v- • #•>■»* , . .•>• * 

a m 'y ?&■>-« . 1 k - ' • . v#, • S^-> . y ••. - •• ,.■ • :••■;■ m *■ 
re' -/nfe 5: ■ " - -■ •• V 1 ,••■ •' , ■ ;■■• ■• 

■ 

-! • A >' -• • .,k • ; •:■ -y :*4 -■ v ^ , y.*>. y' ;• - vc ^V,!'-.V* - n £ 4 } •V* 0 '' .v 

. 

' lit lib-- ■% $&> . s' •' , /m, •^•.;;?y .*/•' ^.V : - ••:. •.'- ft,.- • *.> •- 


»' T ’••* ?•- ‘ vr .• ' # ' r i ' '«. N> • »/ * 1 * _' N - • , . '. . •/ , ** • ▼* , *. 

? -■■*.vJ - *< v 'i.- ' ,;. ;fv. r '>:• ;»\ -y : •• 

iSj *r*' ^ y ;t< • *•; ’ ^'•. - *:v- /-.Vy . y, 7 i • r-\ ¥' m * ’ v >;*. - <, n : ; fv.Ji#' 

►.Vyr- •:•' c * 2 fJ r ' y ' *• . - • **w-' ‘ a • '• i? >•»• • >'? *• * H ». • , 0 - ••*• i 

’ \ '' L.H tsi'**: V(}* • y • ‘■'fl J* jJ *, , v - *>-’■ '*. T,> iv *• V rf ••' 1 • ” ; / ‘ • 

, • ' ■'•* /..• y .•...; : .-XAf ... //,-•;• v/-* .,.•>... ; •. ••.•^ - .••/ ■/'■•: • -v• .*^v 


* ;. k .*< - . • 

• v -x.' y v . •. 



.r^-> ' y y‘. • ,A> . - ’ - -,-^V'. . . . •'• .-'• > Wfi '. W ••';• 

















































































T 


COMMEMORATIVE TRIBUTE TO 

HENRY JAMES 

By BLISS PERRY 

• ' &*■ " * 4 ' W&H 

PREPARED FOR 

THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF 
ARTS AND LETTERS 
1921 



AMERICAN ACADEMY OF 
ARTS AND LETTERS-. , 
1922 








•» 













COMMEMORATIVE TRIBUTE TO 


HENRY JAMES 

By BLISS PERRY 

PREPARED FOR 

THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF 
ARTS AND LETTERS 
1921 



AMERICAN ACADEMY OF 
ARTS AND LETTERS 
1922 


123 



Copyright, 1922, by 

The American Academy of Arts and Letters 

/3 3 3 6 ^ 

/j. ^44 


THE DE V1NNE PRESS 
NEW YORK 


> 








1 

HENRY JAMES 

By Bliss Perry 

Although Henry James wrote at one 
time acute studies of New England 
character, he was never, in his rela¬ 
tions to that section, or, for that mat¬ 
ter, to any locality save possibly Lon¬ 
don, anything more than a “visiting 
mind.” His grandfather was an Irish 
merchant in Albany. His father was 
a philosopher and wit, a man of com¬ 
fortable fortune, who lived at times in 
Newport, Concord, and Boston, but 
who was residing in New York when 
his son Henry was born in 1843. No 
child was ever made the subject of a 
more complete theory of deracination. 
Transplanted from city to city, from 


ACADEMY NOTES 







2 

THE AMERICAN ACADEMY 


country to country, without a family 
or a voting-place, without college or 
church or creed or profession or re¬ 
sponsibility of any kind save to his 
own exigent ideals of truth and beauty, 
Henry Janies came to be the very pat¬ 
tern of a cosmopolitan. Avoiding his 
native country for nearly thirty years 
and then returning for a few months 
to write some intricate pages about 
that American Scene which he under¬ 
stood far less truly than the average 
immigrant, at the beginning of the 
war he renounced his American citi¬ 
zenship and became a British subject 
in order to show his sympathy with the 
Empire. It was the sole evidence of 
political emotion in a lifetime of sev¬ 
enty-three years. 

American writing men are justly 
proud, nevertheless, of this expatriated 
craftsman. The task of really under¬ 
standing him has been left chiefly to 
clever women and to a few critics, but 


ACADEMY NOTES 






OF ARTS AND LETTERS 

3 

ever since A Passionate Pilgrim and 
Roderick Hudson appeared in 1875, it 
has been recognized that here was a 
master, in his own fashion. What that 
fashion is may now be known by any 
one who will take the pains to read the 
author’s prefaces to the New York 
edition of his revised works. Never, 
not even in the Paris which James 
loved, has an artist put his intentions 
and his self-criticism more definitely 
upon paper. The secret of Henry 
James is told plainly enough here: a 
specially equipped intelligence, a free¬ 
dom from normal responsibilities, a 
consuming desire to create beautiful 
things, and, as life unfolded its com¬ 
plexities and nuances before his vi¬ 
sion, an increasing passion to seek the 
beauty which lies entangled and be¬ 
trayed, a beauty often adumbrated 
rather than made plastic, stories that 
must be hinted at rather than told, rap¬ 
tures that exist for the initiated only. 


AND MONOGRAPHS 










4 

THE AMERICAN ACADEMY 


No one who ever had the pleasure 
of hearing James discourse about the 
art of fiction can forget the absolute 
seriousness of his professional devo¬ 
tion ; it was as though a shy celebrant 
were to turn and explain, with mys¬ 
tical intensity and a mystic’s involu¬ 
tion and reversal of all the values of 
vulgar speech, the ceremonial of some 
strange, high altar. His own power 
as a creative artist was not always 
commensurate with his intellectual 
endowment or with his desire after 
beauty, and his frank contempt for the 
masses of men made it difficult for him 
to write English. He preferred, like 
Browning, a dialect of his own, and he 
used it increasingly after he was fifty. 
It was a dialect capable of infinite 
gradations of tone, endless refine¬ 
ments of expression. In his threescore 
books there are delicious, poignant 
moments where the spirit of life itself 
Butters like a wild creature, half- 


ACADEMY NOTES 






OF ARTS AND LETTERS 

5 

caught, half-escaping. It is for the 
beauty and thrill of these moments 
that the pages of Henry James will 
continue to be cherished by a few thou¬ 
sand readers scattered throughout the 
Republic to which he was ever an 
alien. 

He was elected a member of the 
Academy in 1905, and died in 1916. 


AND MONOGRAPHS 











J 














y. «.F : .•;>»arrv- 

v.;••»-,• , f'A*.> :- ••'*?«*> - .■'•• & •«- 

;» S? 7 * ' •' :'’ji • V •■'-•• - ' ■ ;' /i-v ' y 


Vv 


,.>> • rtr • . *.. • V< j 

' «■* K'#? . V" -V * * %• *• ' V ‘ w. 






v, - ' V- 




V:?u' 


■ - . • * ^ * Y * ', , •a * * s 4 > 


* ' .• V V » • 1 


*7". *-• * ' x ~ .’ S< 

V VW*'* 




‘fl- 

.>*» ‘ # 


^ * uHS* 4 




< *>, 






4 V • A '■ ^ 

|ifc; 








. i *. r £S\ 



4 /> 
A 


A- 


W i 




•f.; (** ■;/ tftefc'aS SBNs? 

• r' V > »/, *b.* W r^'SfiSF !fiS «; 5* 

^•••• y .%W‘"' :t -vr. - V-" *4 ‘. - H S&/?’. £$Ss ■ 

- 






•f- 


4 : 4 ;- ^ 


»y i 








•■' •>.... ■ ■ . * - ..■ ■■ • 

• ■ ... > •> .- . • >■- :; 

•JS* Vyl -> ,. U. :.'' •-, 7 ^.;w- ',"■;. 

* 7 $j.n ••spVi. je. 4 ^r- •. ^ 




X. 




mm 




; s’- V">> 

' M'S ' 










scm 














, V'.*! 


' 


f' 


' 

1 ' - •? •• : ' ‘V -» v VEft Tv 1 % y • . y »••*..:• -* •» ^ ..- ? 


:: ' v ^ 




■•.«: ., ?s • r 

, '•* '•’ 'STM . 


. 7 '1 . < 






■ : ":" 7 W^*V ■ 






.'••cTKa 






«. i - r * j r • . v 




, 'yV’iW 














ir *f 


• v Cf vi<, 

'^C- yS ! 


V 


4 •' 




'• -u\Jv.: 4L 


pf ^ 

tv r 1 ^ 3 fP 




.^6** f SI,’ ' 

.\V -A', -fV 

. ■*i » s * ^. * *. * 


. V M yjf 

- tA 


;v9 










V; i ^ 

. ‘ft •. 






ml 




v ^ r. 






l v 




■; 




y 










V 




' * 


' V* 

1 


'•• 

\ ^ *2. i •. 

•-•4 

; 

,'jc. »?y^\ 


. <f t v I •:j 

w‘*r' - 7 * ASK 




i ->m 








' •%- ‘ r x I r**.» 




v*» 






' 

> v ; ; * i V- v»v-V a*- r«.r. 

• *.;• -■-' i • 

TliJ. rv* iKAVi| * >Ti . B 




,; : V. 

' v -‘- . 




ms 






'r &"A 


^T'js : -W 




*,-A% r m. 

i&te\u ' . >’ ’ -vri 


. il v. k * 


■ i>; »i. i,<,\ • 

V ;;-\$Msr ' ■ ■ 

&y$rtv> ’v^ 1 * 


4 4i! 






■mm:': 

>*•. <v» MS' 


■ Wt 5 ?i 

. 

«! ' ■ •• • ! i-: ^^'■*i: '!-; ; v> 

1 * * 1>' f- '* ' •'. 


. ,;• . , * r- *. * ■; : fj ' " 

> . 4 ^ .-J 1 . 

ipl j ~m * V'« 


S« V u .•' • 1^.^ * 


.' **-*. s*^-. ,•■? <. >• £r> '. ■>-’ , • v .j 

V/> ! 5 <■( •,";■ • ' &is- 

• 

. *>. -'l -I'/#*— t'4, A ,viv* t.''. *. '• 

-. *.» v.. v* ’,'•' .••.';*• 'T . • 


i;. 4 > v . '*■*& -* - . • • 'i* J ?& rf?l . •; , /'•■> • • - ' -. 

V?' ' 

iSSKL ■■ ••■.- •; tv*# 

. 

. 

.• / *s-.v V;V‘ : '• . ‘ .T • v, \ wV '«£ • •#•*.* >.,. 

* . * V . *4 v ' * . . • «**'* 'vV . • » ' ’ - 

,.; ; OT, V m' ■ : xi-n '£ ■■'■,•>• . :. v •*&>&? ..* • 


. 

. 

.• / * < . ' ' . V » •* * \». • * < / - 

:. •; ■■ •• t- : Y • 

*•% . 1 . v>. ? v * •» » . •. . . ■ »* - .• • . *' 

'» v* :• ’ , /.jUr •* \-\ r >•-'V. • wy ^ vi> <■ -ir.v.'t? r*f ’ > ».«• • • *. . ■ • w '• -*• ■'•. .•** 

>fc. $.%>■?>*% a#*: :r«Ow : :< 





















































































library of 




mm. 


























